Saturday, December 3, 2011

A belly full of mung beans!

Knocked another off the list with mung beans! #17...Eat an ethnic food I've never had before.

I was joined by my good friend Suzanne, who's always up to join me in a new adventure, especially if eating is involved (but try to get her to commit to trying out the gym 2 days a week to get her used to it starting in January and forget it!).

At any rate, we went to quaint little downtown Bethlehem and ate at a restaurant called Alando Kenyan Cuisine. It is operated by Emily, from Kenya. Alando was her grandmother and the food was all based on her grandmother's recipes. She is currently leasing space at the back of The Wired Cafe and has the tables and walls decorated with African art.

We started with African Peanut Soup which had little pieces of sweet potatoes in it. It was very rich and creamy...a cup was too much for either of us, but quite good. Suzanne ordered beef samosas with lime wedges and those were so great! The best thing of all. I ordered Green Gram Grains which was mung beans with a curry and coconut sauce, served with a side of Chapati (flat bread infused with cardamom...yummy!). We also had Bhajia which were thinly sliced potatoes fried with a cilantro butter batter of some sort. Good, but not fantastic. Too fried. My stomach doesn't like really fried food (but strangely, can handle fast food french fries just fine!).

On The Woman in White Front, I am on page 250 or so. 250. Out of 602. 250 out of 602. And did I mention that the font is really, really tiny? And did I mention the book was written in 1860? I am, however, really enjoying it. It's a really good mystery and, apart from being the first mystery book written, was also the first book to be written from all the characters' points of view. It really is a good book. It's just long. Did I mention it has 602 pages? And did I mention that the font is really, really tiny?

The idea of the list has made me more open to try new things...things that aren't even on my list. Little things like taking a shower at the Y, which doesn't sound intimidating but I've never done it. I decided one day to pack up my gym bag with soap, a towel, clothes, and makeup and just do it. And it wasn't that bad. And it saved me time by not having to go home first before I ran my errands. And it cost me $15. I took C's straightener with me because it's smaller and I was only straightening my bangs. I distinctly remember putting it back in my gym bag but then I can't vouch for it's whereabouts. And it's yet to be seen again. So now I owe her a new straightener. And my gym shower cost me $15!

And bigger things like agreeing to sign up for a Lazyman's Triathalon with my crazy British friend Jayne. It started the day after Thanksgiving and goes until Christmas Eve and involves completing 100 bike miles, 25 run miles and 2 swim miles (or in lieu of swimming, 8 hours of aerobics classes). Now while a month to complete those things isn't really that crazy, it's just that the particular month to complete them is always crazy! It will force me to do more exercise this month than I probably would have otherwise. And perhaps, help to negate some of the calories from holiday cookies that I've already started baking (though I have gotten smarter and given away or frozen some so they're not all there waiting for me to eat them. And I do have 3 other willing cookie eaters in the house...though the kids don't eat as much as they should!!).

And silly things like taking pictures of myself after I've gotten dressed for the day to use for a What I Wore Wednesday post (known in the blog world by the bloggers I follow as WIWW). WIWW was started by Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy as a way to encourage people to step it up with their outfit choices. Last year I found myself wearing the same old jeans and sweaters and no jewelery. I have a lot of clothes and jewelery and decided that I should "use what I have" and step it up a bit. I feel better when I think I look good. It's a way of keeping yourself accountable to not get stuck in a clothes rut (if you care about clothes that is. If you don't then this would seem like a silly exercise.). And I'm amazed at how many different outfits I can come up with when I put a little thought into it. I have not reworn outfits (aside from jeans and cords) since I've been doing this which has been since the fall.

So the list is on its way and it's showing its effect on me in other ways also by making me more receptive to all types of new experiences!

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About Me

I am a stay-at-home mom with a rambunctious, beautiful daughter, a sweet, silly son and a funny and amazing husband. I just turned forty today and have had some trepidation about it. I decided to create a list of forty things to do in my fortieth year. The list needed to be filled with things that I've wanted to do for a while and haven't yet, things that I thought I should do, or things that were slightly intimidating....like "start a blog!"
This blog will be chronicling my attempt to complete my list of forty things.